Rising Young Professionals of 2018: Gregg Fuerstenberg

Gregg Fuerstenberg’s official title is vice president of business and economic incentives at the Minneapolis office of JLL, a global real estate and investment management company.

In conversation, he refers to himself as a site selector.

The role combines Fuerstenberg’s legal, accounting and finance expertise with his love of construction. His goal, he said, is to “to help marry a project with a community,” something he has helped dozens of companies do across the country.

It’s exactly what he wanted to do after first encountering site selectors as general counsel and auditor for the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

An attorney and accountant, Fuerstenberg has degrees from Mitchell Hamline School of Law and Gustavus Adolphus College. He has also worked as an auditor for a regional public accounting firm.

For a recent JLL project, Fuerstenberg worked with a team to secure state and local support for Digi-Key, the Thief River Falls-based electronic component distribution company that’s building a 1 million-square-foot distribution facility. The project represents an investment of more than $200 million and is expected to bring 1,000 new jobs over a decade.

“To be able to partner with all units of government and [bring] such a tremendous asset to our state and that community was a fantastic experience,” Fuerstenberg said.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

This came from one of my first bosses, Dan Kahnke, audit director at MnDOT: Listen more and talk less.

What’s something that most people don’t know about you?

Most people professionally see me as buttoned up. But if they could see me in my home life, I’m one of the biggest goofballs ever. They would say, “I had no idea Gregg was such a goofy dad.”